


Floral Acquaintance

by SpicyRedPaladin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Language of Flowers, Lotor is helpful, M/M, Pining, shiro is shy, so is lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 17:58:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14383998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpicyRedPaladin/pseuds/SpicyRedPaladin
Summary: Shiro was a businessman. Lance was a gardener. The two were, to borrow a phrase, meant to be.





	Floral Acquaintance

**Author's Note:**

> A nice little Flowershop AU that I wrote in the SHance Support Squad Discord.  
> Please enjoy!

Shiro took a deep breath, relishing the scents of the flowers mingling in the greenhouse. He had never really been one for plants, but, lately, he'd been finding himself drawn to the nursery across the street. He told himself it was a change of pace, a way to destress from his stuffy office job. A change of scenery from the lack of greenery brought by the surrounding office buildings. But no matter how much Shiro told himself this, he knew the real reason. He opened his eyes, smiling when he saw the nursery caretaker, a pretty Cuban boy with skin like caramel, hair like chocolate, and eyes like endless seas, that he'd been pinning after ever since the nursery first opened. His name was Lance, and Shiro was in love.

Lance was easygoing and funny, his bad jokes making for great silence breakers. Not that there was usually any silence between the two. They always seemed to find something to talk about. Whether it was the recent weather, bands that were coming to town, new flower shipments, or Shiro's ungodly co-workers, Lance always had an opinion. And Shiro loved hearing Lance sharing said opinions. Especially when he talked about flowers. It was almost like Lance could speak personally with each of the plants. They all had personalities and different needs and meanings. Today, Lance was telling him about 'the language of flowers'. Shiro was sceptical, but he wanted to hear Lance talk.

Lance pruned a tree sapling, smiling softly. "This one is an apple tree. The fruit and the blossoms have completely different meanings, you know." Shiro nodded. No, he didn’t know. But he liked the way Lance said it. "If you give someone an apple, you're telling them you feel tempted by them. But apple blossoms show preference, in contrast. Like, if you have two people standing next to each other, you give the one you prefer an apple blossom."

Shiro nodded again. Not that he understood it, but it sounded interesting. "Does every flower have a meaning? Or just special ones?" Lance laughed and Shiro felt his heart flutter. "Every flower has a meaning. It's a matter of figuring it out." He started leading Shiro around the nursery, picking up flowers and telling their meanings. Allspice for compassion, Adonis for gratitude, Scarlet Auricula for avarice. Shiro had no idea how Lance could remember it all. It all seemed so complicated. But the way Lace talked about it made this whole language seem like it came to him as second nature.

The two sat in the office of Lance's little nursery, sipping tea and talking about the rain after the little 'tour' was over. Shiro thought quietly to himself as Lance spouted off about the nutrients in rainwater. Was there a flower that symbolized how he felt about Lance? He had been pining for months now, trying to work up the courage to ask the young man on a date, but he kept chickening out. Was there a flower that he could give Lance to tell him about how he felt? He made a mental note to look it up at work.

Shiro stood as his lunchtime rolled around to the end. He smiled at Lance. "Same time tomorrow?" Lance grinned and nodded. "Oh, but before you go!" The lovely young man set his cup down and quickly went to his little workbench, picking up a light blue pot filled with pretty yellow flowers. "A gift!"

Shiro blushed, not quite knowing what to do. He smiled nervously. "Th-thank you, Lance! These are beautiful..." He suddenly remembered something. "Do, uhm... Do these have a meaning?" The gardener simply grinned. "Well, wouldn't you like to know? Why don't you look it up?" With that, he hurried from the office to help an elderly woman who had just entered the nursery.

Shiro went back to his office, staring at the flowers with a soft smile. When he got back, he immediately began his search on the web for the meaning of the flowers. He spent a good hour scouring through Google Images, trying to find the sweet, sunshine yellow flowers. He groaned and sat back, rubbing his wrists. How hard was this supposed to be? Just as he was considering giving up, one of his coworkers popped their head over the cubicle wall.

Lotor regarded his coworker for a moment before looking at the flowers. "I'm guessing you've been furiously clacking away at your keyboard because you don't know what those little weeds are, hm?" Shiro gave him a look. "They're not weeds, Lotor. They're flowers. They were a gift." The other laughed, shaking his head. "Gifts, hm? Well, that's a wonderful joke. Those grow on the roadsides nearly everywhere in the South. So, to me, they are weeds."

Shiro quickly turned to him, interest piqued. "You're from the South... Do you.. happen to know what they're called?" Lotor hummed a bit. "I do. I'll tell you if you tell me who got them for you." "The owner of the nursery across the street. What are they called." Lotor laughed at the quick response. "How eager. They're called Lance Leaf Coreopsis." He kept talking, but Shiro didn't hear a word of it. He was too busy looking up the meaning.

What he found made him go pale.

The next day, Shiro went back, just like he'd planned. Today, however, he had a plan. He held tight to his the small potted plant he'd brought. He strode confidently up to Lance, who grinned at him. Before his friend could speak, he held out the flowers. Lance blushed and accepted them before speaking.

"Double asters... 'I return your sentiments'..."

Shiro nodded. "I.. ended up having a little help. You're funny, though. _Lance_ -leaved coreopsis. 'Love at first sight'..." Lance nodded shyly, setting down his gift. "I didn't know how to tell you myself... So I decided to let the flowers talk for me..." Shiro stepped closer, wrapping his arms around Lance and pulling him into an embrace. "I, uh... I'd really like to meet sometime when I'm not on my lunch hour…” Lance nodded in agreement, hugging back and closing his eyes. "I.. I'd really like that."

Shiro smiled and kissed Lance's cheek, thanking whatever god there was for making flowers and giving them words.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
